How to Customize Roller Skates:A Step-By-Step Guide with @gracedbyanya

Since roller skates take a lot of scuffs, you have to start with a solid foundation. Anya preps the white Impala skates using Angelus Leather Preparer & Deglazer to strip the factory finish. This ensures the paint bonds directly to the material, making it durable enough for the boardwalk.

Anya starts by sketching the characters. To make them pop, she uses a "sticker" style approach, outlining each character in a thick black border. This separates the art from the background and gives it that classic Nickelodeon cartoon look.

To give the skates that Southern California feel, Anya masks off her characters and uses an airbrush to apply a soft sunset gradient. She blends Angelus Light Blue into a Pale Yellow, keeping the colors light so they don't overpower the rest of the design.

Once the gradient is dry, Anya peels the masking and adds "realistic" palm tree silhouettes in black. This adds depth to the design and makes the colorful characters stand out even more.

To wrap it up, Anya applies an Angelus Finisher. She chose a Matte look instead of Gloss because it makes the design look like the skates left the factory with the design